The 2016–17 Southern Utah Thunderbirds basketball team represented Southern Utah University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Thunderbirds were led by first-year head coach Todd Simon and played their home games at the Centrum Arena in Cedar City, Utah as members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 6–27, 3–15 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for 11th. As the No. 11 seed in the Big Sky tournament, they defeated Montana State in the first round before losing to Weber State in the quarterfinals.

Previous season The Thunderbirds finished the season 5–24, 3–15 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for 11th place. They lost in the first round of the Big Sky tournament to North Dakota. On March 9, 2016, head coach Nick Robinson was fired. On March 22, the school hired Todd Simon as head coach.

Departures

Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Travon Langston 3 G 6'3" 190 Senior Las Vegas, NV Graduated Trey Kennedy 4 G 6'3" 195 Junior Las Vegas, NV Transferred to Midwestern State Daniel Melifonwu 12 F 6'9" 220 Freshman San Diego, CA Transferred to Connors State College Christian Thompson 25 G/F 6'7" 180 Senior Phoenix, AZ Graduated Casey Oliverson 32 F 6'8" 225 Senior Logan, UT Graduated A. J. Hess 35 G/F 6'6" 210 Senior Carefree, AZ Graduated

Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School Jadon Cohee 12 G 6'4" 182 Junior Langley, BC Transferred from Seattle. Under NCAA transfer rules, Cohee will have to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility. Christian Musoko 34 F 6'8" 235 Junior Kinshasa, Congo Junior college transferred from Salt Lake CC Elliott Smith F 6'6" 185 Junior Oakley, CA Junior college transferred from Harcum College Hamdi Karoui F 6'7" 220 Junior Paris, France Junior college transferred from College of Eastern Utah

2016 incoming recruits

Roster

Schedule and results

! colspan="9" style=| Exhibition

! colspan="9" style=| Non-conference regular season

! colspan="9" style=| Big Sky regular season

! colspan="9" style=| Big Sky tournament

References